Source: HPI
SACRAMENTO, UNITED STATES, March 4, 2003: A groundbreaking series of experiments at the University of California at Davis suggests that counting your blessings makes you happier. “When people consciously practice grateful living, their happiness will go up and their ability to withstand negative events will improve, as does their immunity to anger, envy, resentment and depression,” says UC Davis psychologist Robert Emmons, who has been studying what makes people happy for nearly 20 years. Rather than objective life circumstances, individual happiness is a function of outlook and perception, according to Emmons. He published his findings in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in February regarding a number of experiments he has conducted over the past four years. In experiments that used college students, subjects kept a diary. Some recorded how they felt grateful, while others listed life hassles or neutral life events. The gratitude group experienced fewer symptoms of physical illness, reduced daily negative emotions, better quality of sleep and increased overall life satisfaction.